﻿WHITE PINK UNDER FOREST MANAGEMENT. 9 



In the Southern Appalachians hemlock was the principal associate 

 of white pine in the valleys, while on the drier slopes and ridges the 

 latter usually grew in mixture with oaks, chestnut, and other hard- 

 woods. 



Throughout the early history of while-pine logging there was little 

 demand for any except the finest grades of lumber, and the amount of 

 loss involved in supplying these was enormous. Only the best log's 

 from the best trees were taken, and of these as much as one-half was 

 often lost in slabs. In fact, it was claimed that it took four trees to 

 produce the amount of lumber contained in one. Labor was a very 

 large, and stumpage value a very small, item in the cost of sawed 

 lumber. 



Even when this waste is considered, it is probable that the drain 

 upon the forest by lumbering was less than half that involved through 

 loss by fire. The dry, resinous slash of pine branches and leaves left 

 after logging was almost sure sooner or later to become ignited. 

 The hot fire from this not only consumed the scattering trees left on 

 the cut-over areas, the seeds from which might have restocked the 

 land with young growth, but also spread to adjoining timber. In 

 this way countless acres were burned and reburned, until the ground 

 was bare of mature timber, young growth, and even of the rich 

 forest soil of decaying leaves and litter. Thus by destroying what- 

 ever seed trees and young growth lumbering had left, fire made it 

 impossible for the forest to reproduce itself. 



Though white pine often grew in places more valuable for agricul- 

 ture than for the production of timber, the forest was removed from 

 many situations either too steep and broken or too sandy and poor 

 for agricultural use. The value for timber crops of such regions as 

 the great sand plains of Michigan and the sandy areas of Wisconsin, 

 and the mountains of Pennsylvania, is demonstrated by the quality 

 of the white-pine stands which once grew there. With efficient pro- 

 tection from fire there is no reason why these regions can not again 

 be made to produce pine. 



SECOND GROWTH. 



Stands which come up naturally after lumbering or fire are called 

 second growth. In second-growth stands growth is vigorous, while 

 in very old stands it is nearly if not quite balanced by decay. Over- 

 mature stands, being unproductive, represent idle capital, and the 

 best use of the land demands their replacement with rapid-growing, 

 productive stock. This, in fact, was what actually followed the 

 logging of white-pine forests where fire did not later run over the 

 ground. In Wisconsin there was estimated to be in 1897 about 

 200,000 acres of second-growth white-pine thickets which had sprung 

 up in the previous 25 years. 



